Cala d'Hort

The so-called battle of Cala d'Hort[3] was a demonstration by the island's environmentalists against developers who saw the sparsely populated slopes of the Serra de Ses Roques Altes as the perfect place to expand the island's tourist industry. A 420-room hotel and 18-hole golf course were planned, along with a desalination plant to provide the drinking water for such a large development. The island's green movement, known as GEN-GOB,[4] began a campaign to stop the development in 1992.[5] After 6 years of various objections and legal wrangles, the development was approved to proceed with construction in 1998.[5] The GEN-GOB decided that greater measures were needed and they took their arguments against the development to the island's government through an organised protest march. The protest was organised in January 1999,[5] and eleven thousand protesters showed up to march through the streets of Ibiza town. The local politicians quickly realised that this number made up 14%[5] of the islands population, and the wave of opposition helped to sweep the ruling PP party from power.[5] In August 1999 the local government put a stop to all development plans. The Cala d'Hort National Park was created in February 2002.[5]